


Mortal Kombat: Man in Black

by SolidSnakePlissken



Category: Mortal Kombat (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Origin Story, Deal With the Devil, Depression, F/F, F/M, Family Issues, Gore, History, Immortality, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Mass Murder, Near Death Experiences, POV Erron Black, Regret, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide Attempt, Undead Erron Black, Western
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-26
Updated: 2020-05-26
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:13:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 19,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24390385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SolidSnakePlissken/pseuds/SolidSnakePlissken
Summary: Excerpt from a poem,“The story behind it,People rarely knew.Making a deal with the devil,At cross roads, selling his soul.Decades later,Came calling the devil,Making him sprint into a run.Regret filled his eyes,But too late for that now.“A deal Erron made came to bite him in the ass. This is the sequel to Mortal Kombat: Roadkill
Relationships: Erron Black/OC, Erron Black/Skarlet, Skarlet/Nitara
Kudos: 4





	1. Prologue

**Mortal Kombat: The Man in Black**

**By Solid Snake Plissken**

**Prologue**

It was 1993 in the Black Dragon hideout, people were bar fighting and some were just gambling, but three buds were just drinking their lives away,

“Oi! Bar fuck, get me some more drinks for me and me lads!” Kano yelled at the bar keep, Kabal and Erron laughed at drunk talk, the bartender sighed and got them the beers. All three men grabbed a beer and cracked it open, Kano raised a beer, Kabal raised his halfway and so did Erron,

“Cheers lads, for being great lads and living good lives.”

“Cheers!” Kabal said smiling, 

“Cheers…” Erron said slightly smirking, Kano and Kabal took notice to this and decided to question their good friend,

“Aye, Erron, you alright there mate?” Erron looked at them, giving a fake confused face,

“Whatcha talkin about?”

“You’re looking like your dog died, something bothering you?” Kabal asked,

“Thinkin about Skarlet again mate?” Erron got a little annoyed at what Kano said,

“No, if she’s happy I’m happy, just best to move on...besides, it doesn't really matter anymore.” Kano and Kabal looked more confused than they already were,

“Kinda an empty view of life mate?”

“Yeah man, c’mon, we are living the best life after hitting those two joints.” Kabal said as he drank some of the beer, Erron just looked at them and sighed,

“Mind if I show you guys a parlor trick?” Erron said blankly, Kano and Kabal nodded and Erron took his revolver out and loaded 6 bullets in, he placed the gun to the side of his head and the guys reasonably freaked out,

“Woah woah woah mate, you had too much to drink man!”

“Erron, chill, drop the gun now!” Erron chuckled softly and shot a round, the bullet went through his skull, Kano and Kabal looked confused again. Erron unloaded the rest of the shots into his head, but he wasn’t dying. Kano and Kabal’s mouths were wide in shock and awe due to Erron’s weird trick,

“Well I’ll be damned mate, you’re bloody immortal?!” Kano said, still in shock, Kabal was just speechless,

“Heh...damned, you don’t even know half of it.”

“Whatcha talkin about, mate?”

“Sit around and get some drinks, best to tell y’all my story, my mistakes and my fuckin regret.” Kano and Kabal grabbed more beers and paid attention to Erron as he began to tell his story.


	2. Two Shots

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Erron’s lore all in POV of Erron

**Chapter 1: Two Shots**

Reckon I tell you that my life growing up wasn’t easy, I was born before the Civil War in 1858. My Pa was a bandit before becoming a fighter for a very shitty side of American history. Growing up, I never really took anything after my Ma and Pa, I didn’t care much for them since they’d let their fists do the talkin. After the war ended, Pa settled into becoming a preacher, holy man to the town but a real grade A asshole. I remember when I was a kid and I was moving some farming equipment into the shed, he came 

“Boy!” He said with a bottle of whiskey in his hand,

“Yes Pa?”

“Once you’re done with that, go on to the town and get some supplies from the store.”

“Whatever you say Pa.” Sayin that was a big mistake for me as Pa drank some of the whiskey and cracked me in the head with it,

“You gonna try that again boy?” He said as I screamed in on the ground in pain,

“Yes...Pa.” I said as I was takin shards out of my head, 

“Good, go on with your thing.” Sometimes it wasn’t a glass bottle from him, sometimes it was a wooden plank, or a pipe, or even his belt and bible. Everyday was just a new scrape or stitch, I was severely beaten for doin nothing wrong, lots of shit to handle for a 12 year old boy. I didn’t use that story as an example though, this was the beginning of things changin for me, I got up and headed to town. It was small, nothin too fancy, we had a saloon, a store, a tailor, a Doctor, just the basics of American life. I walked my way to the store where I ran into a friend of mine, she was a redhead, wore this laced skirt with a button shirt, had green eyes to match and her name was Maggie,

“Howdy Erron.” She said as she walked towards me, I was tryin my best to hide the wounds but she was a clever one, 

“Erron, you’re hurt again?”

“Yep.”

“Father Joseph?”

“Yep, for nothin.” She sighed sadly, Maggie always did care for me, no matter how much my Pa beat me, she was always there to patch me up, tryin to make me feel better. She helped stitch up the places I missed,

“You should go on and tell someone.”

“And they’ll do what? Believe the son of a preacher is being beaten by the man of God himself, like anyone would believe that.” Maggie just sighed and continued cleanin me up. She came with me to the store to help get the stuff I needed for my Pa, after we said our goodbyes, I headed back home, Ma was cookin and Pa was busy practicing his verses,

“You got what I asked for boy?” 

“Yes Pa.” 

“Good, leave it on the table and go on with your business.” I dropped the stuff at the table and went out to the barn, see there was one thing I was good at and it was shootin. I grabbed some of my Pa’s bottles and put it up on the fence, 6 bottles, 1 shot, I really worked hard for me to make this work. I assumed my stance and fired at the wall, the bullet ricochets off the barn wall and hits all 6 bottles. I patted myself on the back and then heard Ma call for dinner, I walked into the house and washed myself up for dinner. My Pa was sitting at the table already while my Ma was preparing the food, I sat across from him and just waited for my food. When my Ma handed us the food, I was about to start eating but my Pa slammed his fist on the table, 

“Boy, what do I tell you?”

“We say our prayers first before eatin.” He was a hypocrite, despite all that holy bullshit he was uptight about, my Pa was the biggest sinner of them all. He ran with the Klan, sold some kids into slavery and worst of all, the things he did with women in the confession booths. I did what he told me to do and just did our prayers before we ate, despite how many times I prayed, I felt like no one can hear me, but I was wrong, prayers can be heard by everyone it just gets the wrong type of attention. Out of nowhere, a knock came from the door, 

“Beulah, go check who it is.” My Ma did what he said and got up to check,

“It’s that Jackson girl.” I smiled a bit knowing that it was Maggie, but Lord knows I’ll come to regret that. Pa went to the front door while I got to work on the dishes, Pa went to the front door, 

“Whatcha want child?” 

“My daddy wants to know if you’ll be able to do the christening of my little brother tomorrow?” I saw how Pa looked at her, with those lustful, predatory eyes of his, Ma saw the look and went behind Maggie, I knew what was gonna happen and ran to the barn as fast as I could. That wasn’t the first time Pa decided to “touch” a little girl, there were many throughout the years, some even hung cuz he said so, when the people would ask about the screaming he would just say that he was gettin the devil out of them. I didn’t want that to happen to Maggie, I managed to find one that was loaded once I heard the furniture being tossed around and the screams. I ran back to house and saw Ma and Pa trying to tie her down to the table, 

“Stay down little bitch!” I was pissed at this, I was pissed at them, all the years of abuse and built up anger, the things he did to people, I couldn’t take it anymore. I fired two shots, both hit my parents, right in the head. They say when you first kill a person, you feel guilt because you don’t know who they are, but I did, I knew who exactly you are. I snapped out of my state once I heard the sheriff call out, I helped Maggie up and cleaned the blood off her face,

“Listen to me, go and hide in the cellar.”

“What about you?”

“Please Maggie, just go.” I knew she didn’t wanna leave me alone with the sheriff but she had to, she ran down to the cellar just in time, but the sheriff entered and saw me with the revolver in my hand,

“Erron?! What the hell did you do?!” I knew I couldn’t shoot at the sheriff cuz he would’ve killed me before I can shoot, I dropped my revolver and he arrested me for the murder. The next morning, the whole town heard of how young Erron Black shot his parents in cold blood. My town was very uptight about religion so there was no way in hell I would be gettin a fair trial. I was found guilty and sentenced to be hung at noon, but I didn’t care that I killed my parents, they had that comin for years. I was more afraid on dying and I prayed for so much that night until finally someone came to answer, but it was the wrong kinda someone.


	3. A Tempting Offer

**Chapter 2: A Tempting Offer**

They say when you know he’s near, you feel a cold chill, unlike none ever felt by mortal man. A cold feeling that you can see your breath as you breathed, the nights there are usually cold but this time it was different. I was sitting up on my bed, coming to terms with my fate and that’s when he came, he was wearing a black suit, black leather boots, red gloves and a red tie along with a black hat. He was a scrawny one, skin pale as ice and one devious smile, he walked to my cell and that’s when I noticed him,

“Hello Erron.” He said in a calm and almost relaxing but cold voice,

“D-do I know you?”

“We never personally met but I know you Erron, I know about the constant prayers when Joseph and Beulah beat you down like a rabid dog, whenever Joseph shoved his cock inside a little girl and Beulah let it happen. I know many things Erron, and I know you were praying for someone to save you whenever those times Joseph whipped you or when they locked and starved you in the cellar. I’ve seen and heard it all Erron and I’m here to offer a nice little proposal.” The voice didn’t sound threatening at all, almost sincere and caring, but there was one thing I learned from Pa is that this man is liar, but I just didn’t see it yet, 

“You’re-you’re the devil!” He chuckled softly,

“Bingo kiddo, Lucifer, Mr Morningstar, Samael, Hades, the fallen one. The Devil, so what do you say kid? I help you get out this cell and you give me-well, you already know what I want.” Despite all that shit my Pa’s done there’s one thing he taught me, never accept deals with the Devil, the Devil just walked into the cell and sat beside me,

“You wanna protect her don’t you?? After all that shit, you still wanna protect Maggie don’t you? You’ll always be able to protect Maggie just as long as you accept my deal, what do you say Erron?” He stuck his hand out and I shook it, his grip was cold, ice cold but soft and relaxing. As I shook his hand, the sheriff came in and Lucifer was gone, he approached the bars and sighed,

“You were a good boy Erron, why did you do it?” I just looked at him and turned away after, 

“Dammit boy you listen to me you hear?! They are gonna hang you, you are going to hell, don’t ya care about your soul or life-“ he was cut off and began to grasp his own chest, gasping for air, slowly the life faded from his eyes. Then my cell was open, I took his revolver and ran out the station. Then I saw Maggie in a carriage, the carriage was stocked with foods, money and some clothes,

“Erron!”

“Maggie, what the hell are you doin here?”

“Came to bust you out, but seems you got out, c’mon now, we gotta go!” I got on, but first I questioned how the hell she got that stuff out of her house? She got the horses to move faster and we ran away and we kept runnin, town to town, the next day was always a different town. Eventually, as we got older and time passed we said fuck it and became an outlaw duo, later a couple, way before Clyde Barrow started fuckin Bonnie. It was one of the few times I could say, I was truly happy and sometimes I wish I can go back to it.


	4. Hangin Up The Boots

**Chapter 3: Hangin Up the Boots**

I told y’all both that this is the second gang I ran with, well here’s why I never really formed one again. I was about 21, the year was 1879, me and Maggie found some other misfits that joined up with us, John “Digger” Williamson, Barry “Buckshot” Rodgers, Larry “Oldie” Fitterman and my best friend at the time, Arthur “Butch” Harrison. We robbed anything that moved, banks, trains, even unsuspected aristocrats, can’t deny that it was a fun time. But sadly the fun times were ending after a year of working together, and it came after one of the biggest heists we pulled, see this train was packed with aristocrats and carts filled with gold that would make the circle of Greed jealous. Maggie was ridin on my back since her horse was shot in a previous robbery, Butch was coming with us to the passenger carts while Digger, Oldie and Buckshot were takin the carts of gold,

“Butch, do your thing, me and Mags will start with the rich folks!”

“Gotcha Erron, stay sharp!” Butch raced to the conductor and jumped on the train, he had him held hostage and told him to don’t stop the train, 

“Alright sweetheart, he has the conductor by the balls you ready?”

“Yes dear! Let’s get these sons of bitches!” Me and Maggie jumped onto the train and kicked open the passenger cart doors opened, they did the occasional scream and gasp and faint while we aimed out guns at them,

“Alright listen up, this train is bein taken over by Desperado, y’all folks are being robbed by Mr and Mrs. Erron Black, and don’t y’all forget the names!” I said, Mags began to take out her bag,

“No one try to be a hero, my man can shoot you faster than a lizard can catch flies!” She said, it still makes my heart race and skip beats when I remember her soft and sharp voice. Like an amazon warrior, she was tough but her heart and feelings were still as innocent as a woman pickin flowers in the fields. We took all those rich idiot’s loot and deeds, me and Maggie ordered them to get into the empty carts that didn’t have gold. Buckshot, Oldie and Digger managed to move it to the carts closer to the passenger cart. Once all those fucks were in there, I wrapped an arm around Maggie and pulled her closer,

“Just know folks, your worst nightmare now is one of the happiest days of our lives!” Once I finished saying that, I shot the chains connecting their cart and left them there. We all celebrated our biggest score in a while, Buckshot got the drinks and me, Butch, Oldie and Digger sat around, Maggie sat on my lap and we all got a drink. Butch stood up and wanted to say some type of toast,

“Fellas...and Miss Black.” We all chuckled when he said that,

“First let's pat ourselves on the back for that, scoring with enough gold that can make our grandkids sit in one of these trains. Secondly, let’s give a toast to brotherhood, to fellowship, that we started from basic robberies and being left like dirt to being the most feared gang in the States. It’s not just about loot we also got power, and that’s something that’s priceless, priceless like the friendship we have. So drink up everybody, and like Erron says, ‘let God bar us from Heaven and we charge upward from Hell’! “

We all said cheers and began drinkin, it was quite a fun memory, drinkin, fun parlor tricks, poker and dancin. After the party and splitting the shares, Butch and the boys went to trash the train and tie up loose ends, while me and Maggie went home. When I first started doing crime at 16, me and Maggie built a nice little house, isolated from everyone, we would farm our supplies and go to town when we had to. We got there and I was carrying her bridal style, just laughin and not givin a fuck about what life had in store for us. I spun her around once we got inside and she kept hitting me on the chest,

“Erron, you’re gonna make me puke!” She said while laughin

“Well what can I say, I love you that much that even making you puke would still be attractive.” She laughed a bit and got off my arms and stood up. She wrapped her arms around me and we started to make out, after a few minutes of kissin we decided to take it to the bedroom. Few hours of fun time and we are just lying there naked and surrounded by our riches. I went for my pants and got something out of my pants, 

“Hey Mags…you remember the first time we kissed?” I said as I looked at her, she turned to me, moved the hair that was covering her face and looked at me,

“How can I forget? We were running from the law from our fifth robbery, once we escaped we came here while we were still building. You said let’s take a day off and I agreed to it. We started messin around with each other, play fighting and chasin each other. Then you tackled me under that big tree near the house, I looked into those adorable brown eyes of yours and you looked into mine, then you made your move.” I still remember that day, I remember how she described it and how much fun that day was, it was a beautiful day. I smiled back at her and laughed,

“Then I carved our names into that tree.” She moved closer when I said that, she rested on my chest and I began to run my fingers through her hair, 

“I also remember when I proposed to you, I said I’d get you the world’s best ring.” She looked at me and I showed her the ring that was in my pocket, she gasped and squealed like a baby pig, she took it and put it on her finger, 

“Erron, it’s beautiful!”

“Only the best for you, Miss Magaline Black.” She kissed me on the cheek and looked at me,

“Erron can I ask you something?” I nodded,

“Do you think we can stop all the outlaw stuff?” I looked at her confused,

“Whatcha talkin about, why?”

“Well, ever since we were 12 and you killed your parents, we’ve been running, running so much that we never got the chance to live our lives. We got enough gold now to retire early and just live, you know? Start raisin a family, just the two of us, have them live and enjoy the life we never got.” I never really thought of the future, I only thought of robbin and heists, but I loved Maggie, I loved her so much that my answer wouldn’t have changed,

“Alright sweetheart, time for us to hang up the boots and guns.” She smiles at me and kisses me again, then she turns around and got something from her drawer. It was a little necklace, with a round for a revolver. 

“What’s this?”

“It’s a little special bond between us, guns and bullets seemed to be our lives since we were 12. So I made a bullet with a little carving of our names on it.” She showed me the engravings of my name and hers, I kissed her again smiling at it, I really appreciated it and still wear it today, it’s the last thing I have of hers. Mags kissed me before falling asleep on me. To me, it was the perfect ending after the early years of hell I had, I was spending it with someone who made me happy and made me feel things I never felt before, touch me and comfort me in ways I felt like no one else could. But there’s the thing about makin deals with the Devil, eventually he comes for his due.


	5. The Devil’s Due

**Chapter 4: The Devil’s Due**

I promised her I was gonna be the one to break the news to the gang, so I went to Butch’s place to tell him a few days later. Butch was a man who liked to always get more, always lookin for a deal to slither his ass in. So when I told him I was cuttin it quits he tried to convince me to not leave,

“C’mon Erron, I don’t want you to leave the game so young, at least not without going out without the biggest robbery of your life.”

“Wasn’t that damn train enough for you?” 

“Yea yea yea, but this is big, a whole import of goods, comin straight from China.”

“Look Butch, I told you I’m done, I don’t wanna do anymore crime for good.” 

“C’mon Erron, one more bang, you, Mags, Oldie, Buckshot and Digger. Just one more ride before you hang up them boots.” I should’ve said no, I should’ve turned down his offer but I didn’t,

“Alright Butch, you got a deal.” I said when I shook his hand, he smiled but his smile was different, something behind it. When I got home, Mags was quite reasonably pissed,

“I thought you told me we were gonna be out?!”

“Mags c’mon, he said one more ride and that’s it, maybe we’ll get rich out of this. Live fancy lives and better once for the next few years, give our little ones a good place to live in.”

“This is already a good place, we don’t need no more!”

“Alright alright, maybe I wanted to help us out a bit more, please, you know it’s the only way to stop Butch from pestering us for good and it will help us in the long run.” She sighed and nodded, I hugged her and gave her a kiss, just reassuring her it will be alright, deep down I was just wanting more, wanting to satisfy that thrill one more time before I give up, wanting to steal some more things before I go, a little farewell tour, but it wasn’t that way for us. The next day we got our shit on, stocked up on ammo and learned the last “Big Bang” as Butch called it. Shipments were coming in from China, spices, artifacts and goods that we can resell here. The plan was simple, steal the goods from the carriages, ditch off, split the loot. Easy money, but if things were like that, I’d be burnin in hell. So once dawn cracked, me and Mags were watching through binoculars where the carts were coming, Butch and the boys were standing at the opposite hill watching too. Mags pointed out the carriage of gunpowder and spices coming it’s way, her and I went down there to start it up, the men there were just mindin their own business till we got there, they stopped the carriages and put their hands up,

“Alright you chinks, get off the carriage.” The men didn’t understand a word comin out of my mouth so I tossed them off, me and Mags got on and signaled the boys to get the rest, they did and each man got on one of the carriages that were there. We rode off but a few miles into going to our drop off, I heard Digger yell,

“Erron! Here comes the law!” Mags and I turned to see a lot of fuckin cops, 

“Shit! Shit! Erron we are gonna get hung!”

“Maggie, get a hold of yourself, we got this!” I ordered the boys to start firing, they fired back nearly hitting us a couple of times. It was a mile of that, just shooting and dodging, till Butch came up to the carriage on his own,

“Erron! Canyon comin up ahead, I’ll ease back to give y’all some cover fire!” I nodded and looked forward, Maggie held and squeeze my arm tightly, I felt that she was afraid so I held her hand while telling the horses to go faster. Once we reached the canyon, I turned around to see something I’ll never forget, those bastards, turned away and let us go into the canyon. Digger, Oldie and Butch, just went off in their carriages, 

“Those sons of bitches!”

“What?!”

“It was a set up Mags, it was a fuckin set up!” She looked at me with tears in her eyes and just cried on my shoulder, I looked up to see a big amount of boys in blue aiming their guns at us. I looked at Maggie and said only one thing,

“I love you, Maggie.”

“I love you always, Erron.” You know, Bonnie and Clyde had gotten gundowned by the law, but for Erron and Maggie Black, it was an explosion. I still remember the feeling, the burning, the melting of skin, the flesh being torn and burned off, and the shattering of multiple bones. Me and Maggie crashed into a nearby rock, still kinda alive, she was crying and gasping for air, the first time I cried too. She looked at me and said,

“I’m sorry!”

“Don’t apologize...it was my fault.”

“No...I’m sorry...for what I did.” I looked at her confused but then I felt it, the cold and embracing feeling again. I heard footsteps making its way here, I turned and saw him again, he was just clapping,

“Erron, Erron, Erron, time to collect my due.” He said as he came closer, but the thing I didn’t know is that he wasn’t comin for me, he turned to Maggie and grabbed her,

“What the fuck are you doing with her?!”

“Erron...I made a deal, for you to not be damned I gave up my soul, I couldn’t let you suffer…”

“No Maggie!!!”

“Erron, I’ll always love you…” the Devil chuckled and came close, 

“Lights out cowboy.” He said as he kicked me in the face and everything went to black.


	6. Ain’t No Grave

**Chapter 5: Ain’t No Grave**

For a moment, I thought I actually died, it felt like a nap or a bad dream but once I woke up I realized I was in a waking nightmare. It was dark, all I felt around me was wood and I started to begin to panic, breathing heavily and punching everything around me. I felt trapped and just sweating but then I felt a string nearby, see back in the day they would add strings to coffins to see if someone’s actually dead. I moved the string but after a while no one was listening, I felt around for a belt which I did fortunately have, I began to punch the coffin door and kept punching till the dirt started to come down, and it did. I dug and climbed my way out till I reached the ground, I climbed up and out of the hole and just felt a whole load of pain. I heard someone comin, the caretaker, carrying a shotgun,

“You grave robbin punk, do you know who’s property this is?!” I looked at him while grabbing my sides in pain, he fired a round at me and I felt my insides kinda squish and splatter. The caretaker was shook, he loaded up two more rounds and fired, the shot hurt like a bitch but I kept movin towards him, he was shaking. Caretaker tried loading a round and I grabbed the gun and whacked him with the butt of the shotgun, even moving my arm stung like bitch. He was crawling away but before he could I aimed the gun at him,

“W-where the hell am I?”

“You in the graveyard, please don’t hurt me!”

“You workin for someone Caretaker?”

“This land is owned by Williamson sir.” Then it hit me, Williamson, Digger! I tried getting him up and pressed the gun on his head,

“You know where this Williamson is?” 

“His house is nearby, I’ll take you.” 

“You got a change of clothes.” 

“I used to fight in the war 30 years ago, I got my old uniform in my shed.” 

“30 Years?! You drunk? The war was 20 years ago.”

“No sir, it was 30 years ago, it’s 1890.” Then it hit me again, was this my punishment? I was fast forward ten years to the future and now I can’t die. I just sighed and held back the tears, the caretaker gave me his uniform, it was Confederate. I took my clothes off only to see myself, my abs were open wide, saw my insides and my back was showing, my legs were showing and more noticeably my jaw was blown apart, showing my teeth and flesh on my jaw. I managed to find a med kit and stitched the parts that I could stitch and bandage up the parts that I couldn’t stitch, including my mouth. I walked out and the caretaker was still there, I got in his carriage and had him take me to Digger. It took awhile but we got there, he had a big mansion for screwing me and Maggie, I got off and knocked the caretaker out. It was beginning to rain once I got to the front door, fitting, I knocked on the mansion door, it took awhile but Digger got downstairs and opened those doors to see me staring back at him, he fell back once he saw me,

“You ain’t real, you can’t be real!”

“Hello John…”

“Erron, I thought you were dead…I saw you die.”

“Ever wonder what the burnin felt like.” I whacked him with the butt of the shotgun, 

“Get up, you and I are going for a trip.” Digger has a farm nearby, starving some pigs there too. I decided to strip him down and tie him to the pole, 

“Alright let’s play a game called confession, tell me why you killed me and Maggie.”

“Please Erron I’m sorr-“

“You’re sorry?! You killed me 10 years ago and all you say is sorry?! You know what maggots feel like Digger? They feed off flesh, it feels like a bit of your body is slowly being taken from you, you’ll feel that soon. But before I send your ass 6 ft under, I wanna know why did you all do it.”

“We took a deal! Butch, Oldie and Buckshot took a deal to kill you and Maggie, the heist was a set up to have you both killed by the cops and we walk away rich.”

“Who John?! Who hired you guys?!”

“It-it was Maggie’s dad, Daniel Jackson!! He hired us to kill you guys!” I couldn’t believe it, I never met Old man Jackson, but he killed me and his own daughter, for what reason? I didn’t know, but I was filled with rage. I shot at the lock holding back the pigs, they went at him, eating him slowly but aggressively. Last thing I heard was him saying my name, I went back to the mansion and found his armory, loads of guns and ammo. I also found this weird mask, looked like the ones from the insane asylums, I picked it up and put the straps around my head and tightened it. That mask boys, is what I’m wearing today, it was what I was gonna use to make sure they remember me.


	7. Judgement Day

**Chapter 6: Judgement Day**

Reading through Digger’s letters and notes I figured out what happened during my decade long dirt nap, Daniel hired for Buckshot, Oldie, Digger and Butch to take us out, Maggie took lots of money and stuff from him the day we ran away from Wickett, we spent our time running that it was hard for him to track us, but he tracked our crew after the train heist, he owned the railroad yard so that’s how they met. Daniel offered them fortune in a time when America was getting industrial, each owned a part of industry, Oldie took gold, Buckshot went for banking and Butch went from oil and steel. Each probably would’ve made it bigger before I stopped them. I tracked down Oldie to Pittsburgh, he ran a string of factories there. The night I went, he was just wrapping up a business meeting, he left the factory and that’s when I approached him,

“Hey Oldie…” he looked at me once I called him that,

“No one’s called me that in years son, who are you?” I pointed my revolver at him,

“You know damn well who I am.” Took him a few seconds to realize but he did,

“Erron?! But you’re dead?”

“No, no I’m not.” I smacked him upside the head, I had him walk back inside, I had him hang on a hook, the hook will dip him into the melted liquid gold, makin him a goldie,

“Where’s the rest Oldie?”

“Please Erron, I don’t know-“

“Liar! Tell me where’s Daniel, Buckshot and Butch?!” I moved the lever to slowly start lowering him closer, 

“Alright alright, Butch is nearby, he’s coming to visit me for something he’s gotta tell me I don’t know what it is yet.”

“Better hope it’s how you want them to do your service.” I pulled the lever and he began to slowly move down to the pit of gold, let’s just say he got a taste of hell. I went through some of Oldie’s notes in his office to find where Butch wanted to meet, close by in a bar but I was sure if Oldie didn’t show up he’d come here. So I sat in his chair, waiting for Butch, he got there after a while and I heard him call out,

“Oldie? Oldie it’s me Butch, where are you?” He noticed me in the chair but didn’t know who I was, so he pointed his gun at me,

“Alright creep, you got five seconds before I turn your insides into mashed taters.” I got up and turned to him, I looked at him how a predator looks at a critter,

“Arthur...you were my best friend…” he was confused so he shot at me at my chest, but it did nothing, he was starting to quake so I kept going to him, he kept shooting and it did nothing. Once I got close I grabbed him by the throat and lifted him up,

“You took my life Arthur! My happiness!! I’m here to get retribution!!”

“E-Erron please!!” I didn’t listen, I dragged his ass outside and locked him in a coffin. I put his ass on a cargo carriage and took him to my former resting ground. It took awhile but once I got there I got him out and dragged him into the hole I made, through the ride he kept bitching but I blocked him out till now,

“Erron c’mon man please let me out! We’re friends c’mon!”

“Your only friends are the maggots who are gonna eat you in a few minutes, but before I put your ass in a hole, tell me where’s Daniel and Buckshot.” 

“Ok ok ok, if I tell you will you let me live?”

“....sure Butch.”

“Daniel is having a party for Junior in Wickett, Buckshot is going there too, it’s supposed to be some final transaction. Now will you let me out??” I pushed him deeper in the hole, 

“Wait, wait we had a deal!”

“Never deal with the Devil Butch, trust me from experience.” I put the dirt on top of his coffin, his screams were annoying but the more I put dirt on him, the more his voice faded and so did hope. He stayed there till this day, his bones are now a maggot’s nest. I loaded up and got ready for my first experience with shootouts in my new condition. There's a thrill when you go to these and you're living but there’s no thrill when you're dead.


	8. Pills and Alcohol

**Chapter 7: Pills and Alcohol**

Back in the Civil War, the men would take what would become painkillers. They described its mixtures with alcohol as “the Grim Reaper helping you feel alive before you die.” When I went to Wickett, I bought some pain pills and then bought bottles of whisky to make me truly feel alive. Whisky burns but that’s the thrill for me, I walked to the Jackson manor, chugged all those pills and whisky bottles and trust me, it made me feel alive. I knocked on the door and guess who answered? Buckshot, I shot him in the head, the thing I didn’t expect was that there would be more men there, men with guns. They fired at me, everything at me, but I didn’t feel a thing, I shot back at them and a big gunfight began. I stood in the middle of them shooting, just taking each shot, each chunk of flesh being shot off, and it felt like nothing. I fired back with shots of my own, everything felt like it was moving slow, like time was helping me get these bastards. By the time I was done shooting, my body was blown off, lost chunks of my face, my bones were showing in some parts and my clothes were torn off. I noticed that Daniel and Jr were running away from me, so I chased after them. They got on two horses and ran away, I got myself a horse and continued after them, they fired some shots at me, but it wasn’t stopping me, I was determined to get their asses. They jumped on a nearby train that was coming, I followed and jumped in the back cart. I ran to the front cart and there were more guys coming at me, still firing. I shot back and reloaded, more came from the front carts and I shot back, my face was almost half off and my clothes except my pants and a portion of my coat was off. Even through all those shots, every close up shotgun shot, I felt nothing, no pain, not even a sting. All I felt was rage, and adrenaline, I killed the last guy and when I walked to the front cart, Daniel and Jr kept shooting at me, till they were out of bullets, I shot them both in the leg, then I stabbed their hands together to the train. 

“What are you?! Why did you do this?!” Jr said,

“Cuz I’m the man your daddy killed, I’m your brother in law dipshit.”

“You ain’t no son in law of mines, you disgraceful defiler!”

“I didn’t defile nobody, maybe if you knew my daddy more, you would know a real defiler.”

“You killed your father, a man of god! You will burn in hell along with my daughter!” 

“My father was gonna fuck your daughter when she was a little girl, you ok with that happening?! I did what I had to do to protect her!” 

“She ruined the future I had for her! She wanted to go with you and so she did, she went to hell where you’ll be going!”

“Heh...you don’t seem to get it, I’m livin in hell.” I grabbed a stick of dynamite, shot them in the legs and lit it, left it there for them and I jumped off. When I landed I saw the train go and blow up in the distance, I crawled to a nearby rock and just laid there. I laid there and then it hit me, like a strong earthquake it hit me, I began to feel it, feel the whisky pills wear off, I began to feel the pain, the pain of every bullet in me, the pain of every shot that I took, every piece of flesh that was shot off I felt the pain. I let out a huge wail, so loud it scared the animals nearby. That pain was hard to deal with all at once, but what made it feel good was that I did it, I killed our killers and made sure they suffered, I took everything from them as their families apparently went broke after. But even with that, with that fact and feeling, I wasn’t happy, I wasn’t happy cuz I wanted Maggie, I wanted to see her face one more time, but now I can’t, I had to live with that and I had to live that the only person to blame for this, was me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made up the Civil War fact


	9. New Horizons

**Chapter 8: New Horizons**

Best to be honest in this story, I lied about a couple of things, frankly I knew about Outworld, long before you guys were born. It all started in 1899, it took a few years but my body began to go back to normal, the chunks and organs missing were healing up. So I decided to take a trip. I took a boat to Hong Kong, wanted to see the world so when I landed in Hong Kong, I didn't know a damn word of Mandarin and Chinese, but there were some Brits there so it wasn’t all bad. I went to one of the soldiers stationed nearby to ask for directions,

“Excuse me, I’m looking for a place to rest, you got any recommendations?”

“Where are you from sir?”

“America.”

“Down there, there’s a hotel, you can stay there for a night before they kick you out. Also here’s a book on how to speak Mandarin, it should help you out.” I thanked him and walked down the alleyway, there were a bunch of people sick and sleepin on the streets but then I saw a man, an old man who was playing a game and drinking some tea. I walked to him to ask directions using the book, 

“<Excuse me, Do you know where the horse ranch is?>” the old man laughed at me,

“Relax American, I speak English. Please sit with me.”

“Oh...well sure.” So I sat with him, he poured me some tea and offered me some,

“Oh no thanks…”

“Smart man, normally your kind are gullible to fall for the tea.”

“Well I don’t take drinks from a stranger.”

“Understandable, well allow me to introduce myself, my name is Shang Tsung.” He stuck his hand out to shake hands, I accepted it and shook his hand,

“Black, my name’s Erron Black.” He held my hand for a while and I felt a strange energy coming in, so I shook him off. 

“Ah...you too, cursed?”

“What the hell? How did you find that out?”

“Mr. Black, I myself had lived for centuries.” 

“Centuries?! Guess you were damned by the Devil too?” He just chuckled at me,

“Mr Black, despite your Catholic curse, there’s more to this world than you know. See I was a participant of a tournament called Mortal Kombat…” and he began to tell me everything, Shang was a participant in the tournament fighting for Earth, but he betrayed Earth for Outworld and became undefeated for years till Great Kung Lao beat him and Shao cursed him for it, to be an old man and steal souls to survive. He then began to tell me about the Realms and the history of each, then he offered me something,

“Well Mr. Black, seeing how you are the type of man that can get a job done, I have a proposition for you. See there’s a man that needs to be erased, he threatens my operation, if you kill him I’ll pay you.”

“Well I got nothin to lose.” I shook his hand and accepted his contract, he wanted me to off some monk from the Shaolin, that he would be leaving the temple nearby and best to get him there. So I went to the building parallel to the temple, I picked up my rifle and took aim. Waited a while for the monk to come out and eventually he did, so I shot him in the head, I ran off before anyone saw me or began searching for me. I later went back to Tsung in the alleyway,

“It’s done, that Monk is dead.”

“Excellent Mr Black, you truly are a remarkable assassin. I would require your services further but first I would like to teach you a few things, somethings to help you on your tasks. But know Mr. Black, you will not be working with Shao Kahn directly, you will be a mercenary, you carry out our tasks and we will reward you, if we do not need you any further we will let you know.”

“Professional, I can accept that. Well better for me to start using this immortality for something. You got yourself a deal.” So teach me he did, he taught me the various languages that existed including Tarkatan, Shokan, Zatarrean, Centaur, Outworldish and Old Edenian. After he finished teaching me, he then brought me to Outworld, Outworld was fuckin huge and different, it was like taking a trip back in time, no guns, just guards it was a whole new experience for me. So my first day there I looked around, apparently Tsung told the guards about me so I got some diplomatic immunity. After getting bored for a while I decided to go to the bar and sit down. The bar was where I would go after my missions, try to drown the past away, Tsung would go there to tell me my missions, they weren’t anything too big, resistance assassinations, political eliminations and sometimes, bodyguarding. But it was in that bar where I met her, no not Skarlet not just yet but I met someone like her, well to be exact the one she’s dating now.


	10. Love Bites

**Chapter 9: Love Bites**

Well it was quite awkward at first, I remember that night, Tsung wanted me to kill off some camps of resistance fighters. It was no biggie, I headed down to the bar and ordered my usual. I sat down at the bar which was almost empty, besides that I was chill, and that’s when I saw her. Didn’t know she was a vampire just yet, she always hid her wings in public so the guards didn’t start a ruckus, she wore a red dress and her eyepatch, one of the few things I notice, I’m not gonna bullshit and say that I walked up to her and said some bullshit that made her laugh, I just looked at her and she noticed and smiled. I still felt iffy about dating but goddamn she was drop dead gorgeous, she walked up to the stool next to me and sat down,

“Hey there cowboy.” She said in a soft but warm tone, it released the tension a bit but I replied back,

“Howdy.”

“I felt your eyes watch me, intrigued with something?” I didn’t question the “felt me watching her” but it did stick in the back of my mind. 

“Well you are an intriguing person.” She giggled,

“Really? What makes you say that?”

“Well the eyepatch, the raven hair and the green eye, quite interesting.” She smiles a bit, blushed a bit,

“Well you yourself are intriguing too, Cowboy. The weaponry, the mask. You probably have a handsome jawline there.” She said as she went for the mask, I grabbed her hand quickly, my body was still healing, some of the gunshot wounds from before were gone but some of the major ones were still healing. 

“Sorry darlin, this part is sensitive.”

“Mysterious, you really are an intriguing person cowboy. My name is Nitara.” She said as she puts her hand out,

“Names Erron Black, pleased to meet you Nitara.” I shook her hand, 

“Universal blood type?” She blurted out,

“What?”

“I recently read a paper from Earthrealm about different types of blood. This doctor was researching why Earthrealm’s blood transfusions sometimes result in death, there’s different blood types and yours is universal, O Positive, a very delicious and rare blood type.”

“The fuck you mean delicious?” She showed her fangs which scared me a bit, but I ran into Tarkatans so, fangs don’t scare me anymore,

“You some kind of vampire?”

“Does that scare you? Since you are mortal and a human.” I started laughing, she thought I was crazy, 

“Ah sweetie, you don’t even know half of it.”

“What in the name of the Elder Gods are you talking about?” I motioned the bartender to dip out for a while, I sighed and removed the straps from my mask, I took it off to show my jaw. My jaw had some pieces of skin back but it was just one half of my cheek. She wasn’t disgusted but shocked,

“What happened to your jaw?”

“About a few decades back I made a deal with a devil, but it got to me. Been immortal for the past few decades…” she sighed in relief,

“Oh thank the Elder Gods, I thought I had to do the vampire ritual.”

“Ritual?”

“To make you a vampire, you are quite attractive, it’s a blessing that you are immortal in your prime.”

“I thought vampires just needed to bite you to turn into one?” She gave me a look,

“Where did you hear that?”

“Book I read, it’s called Dracula.”

“Dracula? I’ve read that Earthrealm book before. It’s partially true.”

“Partially?”

“Well Vampires used to be tribes of immortals who were gifted with blood magic, our realm used to be wonderful, no daylight, basic society.”

“So what happened?”

“Shao Kahn the Conqueror conquered the realm and exterminated most of the tribes, me being one of the only few left since I escaped to Earthrealm.”

“Ah I see.”

“Stayed there for some of your years, eventually I became known by another name there.”

“What’s that?”

“Jack the Ripper.” I looked at her confused,

“Jack the Ripper? The serial killer from London?”

“Yep, why do you think I slit those whore’s throats.”

“Right.”

We just kept talking the entire night, sunrise was close but she couldn’t step out so since I lived in the bar, she spent the day inside with me. It was one wild day, but we hooked up and then just started to date. I felt connected with her, she was always there when I needed her plus, dancin in the night was great. But the thing about Vampires that I learned about is that they usually want something else, especially if they aren’t interested in my kind specifically. It all started in 59, Nitara wanted to go back to Earthrealm and Shang ended my contract since the rebellions died out due to Rain, no need for me. Surprisingly Shang Tsung wasn’t as hostile, guess cuz we related to each other, immortality is a bitch, people always want to live forever but trust me when I say, it’s a lonely life, can never be happy, have to watch the world waste and change while you stay the same, but I digress. We were in San Fran when the whole underground were homosexual, it was night and we went to homosexual bar. Time was 12:45, I sat with her and it was quite a happy sight, people loving each other, dancing, it was quite a fun experience, for the time being. After a few drinks, I didn't even notice but Nitara was gone, I looked around for her and I saw that she was making out with a lady. She saw me and rolled her eyes, I walked with her outside and we had a fuckin chat,

“So...you’re not gonna explain yourself there?”

“What?”

“You were getting hot and heavy with that chick, might explain that?”

“Well it’s simple, I didn’t date you for you Erron, you aren’t my type.”

“So you’re into ladies?”

“Always was, you just had a blood type that I was addicted to.”

“O Positive?”

“Yep O Positive, it’s why I became Jack the Ripper, I was drained and some prostitute came and I smelled her blood, it was O Positive, it’s like opium or heroin or cocaine for us. Like it’s intense, a little escape from reality, the A’s and B’s are nothing compared to a O.”

“So I was pretty much your drug mule and you were just willing to do anything for me for that?”

“Yep, those times I would come late it was just a hook up with some ladies, but hopefully you understand?” I stayed shut and walked away, she didn’t care and went back to her shit. I didn’t want to head back so I wandered around the states until I decided after a century I returned back to Texas. I stole a trailer and a motorbike and set up things there, got some of the era’s clothes and just stayed there. Wandered around towns and cities for years. But it was one summer in ‘66 that I’ll never forget.


	11. The Free Spirits

**Chapter 10: The Free Spirits**

Just a year ago, America went to war in Vietnam. People would think I was a draft dodger and get mad, especially in a state like Texas. It was a sunny day in June, I went into town to get myself some supplies, I was wearing some jeans, boots, jacket and t shirt, I walked into a diner and sat down near the window, I turned to the right and saw her, blonde hair, blue eyes, quite short, she was wearing a dress, nothin too fancy. Guess she saw me too cuz she decided to sit in the same booth, right across, the waitress came a few minutes later,

“So what will you two be having?” I turned to her and say

“Oh, no, we aren’t on a-“ then she cut me off and said,

“I’ll have some sandwiches with some soup.” I just decided to go along with it,

“Get me a burger, fries and whiskey.” 

“Coming up.” I looked at the woman confused,

“Is there a reason why you sat by me?”

“Is there a reason why you were starin at me?” She said with a giggle, I just kinda looked to the side,

“I see you come into town sometimes, now I lived in Austin all my life and never seen you. Especially with what’s happening in Vietnam, why didn't you go?”

“Ain’t our war to fight, neither was Korea.” The men and some of the women looked at me differently, back then it was quite strict, so we said one shit about the war and we got some looks. But the thing about me, people just needed to look at me once and they’d back off,

“Pretty brave for sayin that out loud, mister.”

“Pretty brave to approach a strange man without your wedding ring on, m’am.” She popped up surprised and looked at me weirdly,

“I ain’t married.”

“That tan line on your right ring finger says otherwise…” she looked at her finger to see a tan line,

“There ain’t no tan line?”

“I know.” She turned red for a bit,

“Ok so I’m married, does it matter?”

“Yea what if your husband sees?”

“He ain’t here…”

“What?”

“He went to Vietnam.”

“I see...guess you came up to me wanting a friend?”

“Yes.”

“Why me?”

“Cuz you’re interesting…”

“...fine I’ll bite on, my name is Erron.”

“Erica, Erica Blade.” Yea she’s you know who’s mom…I would visit her at her place sometimes, posin as a handyman, but there was one time I came to surprise her, she was makin some brownies,

“Brownies for me?” I said with a giggle, she turned and wasn’t laughing, she was quite scared,

“Shit, what are you doin here?!”

“What?”

“Hide upstairs, the girls will be here any minute! Did anyone see you?”

“I would know...besides I walked here.” She got me in the attic, 

“Look stay here, I’ll get you when they leave.”

“Fine, fine, no pushin geez.” I laid there and waited, I heard her open the door,

“Sally! Hey! And Regina, Mary, Susan, how are you all?” I heard her say, for a while they just did the usual chit chat, but then something struck me, think it was Mary who said it,

“So Erica, who’s that handsome man you have comin here?” 

“What you talkin about?”

“That man that comes here every few weeks, quite a handsome fella.”

“He’s just the handyman.”

“Oh I’m pretty sure he’s your handyman.” Sally said, the rest just giggled, I was quite gettin annoyed,

“Oh hush all of you!” She fires back, they kept goin at it until they left, I heard her crying afterwards so I decided to go downstairs,

“You alright Erica?”

“No…”

“C’mon, have a seat for a bit.” We sat down and we talked,

“You know how life is shoved down your throat? Have to be married to your high school sweetheart who isn’t really a sweetheart, gotta stay home, have kids and do nothin. Not even have one damn fuckin thought to yourself?”

“Nope, can’t say I have. Always been a free spirit, doin what I want and wandering around.” She looked at me and wiped the tears,

“How you deal with it? People judging you, especially now with the war?”

“I don’t care, sometimes what’s more important is what you think instead of others.” She smiles slightly,

“Like c’mon tell me what do you think, Erica?” She was bein quiet, not really talkin,

“Well you got some thoughts in there girl, just gotta say it? C’mon try me.” She was lookin like she was about to form words,

“...well...I think...the war is...wrong…”

“Ok that’s one c’mon, what else?”

“...I wanted..no you’ll think it’s silly…” I moved a bit closer,

“No you can tell me.” Erica looked up,

“I wanted to...be a singer, you know? Like June Carter Cash.”

“Well you do have an angelic voice.” I said with a smile, she smiles and blushes back, she puts her hand on mines,

“There is one more thing, Erron.” 

“What?” She kissed me, this kiss felt different, it felt like something I only felt once before, from Maggie, warm, embracing, just love. I kissed her back and we broke it after a few minutes,

“I’m starting to love you more than my husband...I want to...I want to run away with you...just go somewhere...far away with you.” I nodded and smiled, and so we did. She packed her things and left with me, we rode around the states, viewed what the world had to show us. For once in my life I felt like settling with her, just marrying this girl, just telling her my secrets and living somewhere far away. We were dating for 3 years when I decided to tell her what I am, we were stayin at a motel in January of 1969, the night I was going to tell her. I took a deep breath and smiled a bit,

“Hey Erica?”

“Yea sweetie?” She was smiling too, more than usual,

“I got somethin to-“

“I’m sorry I can’t hold it in anymore.” She said with a giggle, I looked at her confused,

“What is it?”

“Well you’re going to be a daddy.” I was speechless, I thought I wasn’t going to be able to have kids, I don’t even know if they’ll get my curse too, but it’s already easy math on who my kid is.


	12. Back in Black

**Chapter 11: Back in Black**

I wasn’t sure how I was going to tell her, or how to explain that Sonya and Daniel might have it, but somethin happened that kinda exposed it for her. She was 7-8 months with them and we were going to Woodstock, some of the folk there were really helpful with Erica, they were gettin us to a good spot where we can see the folk perform while also makin sure Erica didn’t fall,

“Thanks Eddie for helpin us out.”

“No problem man, just let us know if you need anything else cowboy.” Now fellas, it’s one thing hearin Jimi Hendrix play Purple Haze on a record, it’s another seein the man play that tune in Woodstock, it was one fun time, a perfect day. We were on the road again after it was over and drove from Bethal down to Maryland when it happened. I caught that there was a specific car followin us since we left New York, a van to be exact, during a pit stop, this army vet wouldn’t stop starin at me and Erica, so we got what we could and went off. A few miles out a car was comin at us, I took a stop so we didn’t crash and I looked at Erica,

“Stay here.” I got out and saw a man with brown hair and a scar on his face along with wearing a vet uniform, 

“You’ve been followin us, stranger. Can I help you?” Boys, don’t be me and leave weapons at home, the man aimed a gun at me, I put my hands up so Erica didn’t find out,

“You’ve been fuckin my wife mister.” Erica looked and said,

“Oh god Herman!” I saw a bunch of fellas come out of the car, he looked at one of them and said,

“Stay with her, don’t be afraid to shoot.” The guy nodded, came to me and hit me in the gut, Herman and his buddies took me out to the swamp, beat the crap out of me, then Herman put a shotgun to my face,

“You think you can fuck my wife?! While I’m away, you fuckin bastard!” I spat in his face and he just wiped it up,

“You’re lucky you’re a nobody, cuz ain’t no one gonna know you’re gone.” He shot me in the face, a familiar pain I haven’t felt in years, he kept shooting till there was no skin on my jaw. I heard him walk away and the cars drive off, the last thing I heard was Erica screaming no. I got myself up, I punched a tree, I just kept punching it cuz I couldn’t do anything right, I couldn’t live a normal life without this damn immortality. Let me teach you boys something, life is one of the world’s beauties, something to enjoy, I can’t enjoy that no more, I knew it back then and I know it now. It took me a few days to get back to Austin, but when I got back I went into the trailer, opened up a box that had my old bounty hunter uniform, I put it on along with that mask, got my pistols and rifle. I rode into town and got loaded up and drank my little elixir, I stood outside their home until Herman came out with his buddies,

“What are you lookin at spooky?”

“A group of dead men.” They recognized my voice, they began shooting, the bullets passin by like nothing, my body feeling nothing, I shot two of them in the head and ricochet shot the other three, I went indoors and saw Herman lookin for Erica but I shot him in the spine, he screamed in pain,

“I- I can’t feel anything, my legs, why can’t I feel my legs?!” I ignored him and went upstairs to see Erica,

“Please stay away!” She said, 

“Calm down, Erica it’s me.” She was confused, I took off my mask to show my gross face, 

“Erron?! But-“

“Look it’s a long story but, I lived a long time ago and now I’m damned due to a deal, I was afraid to tell you cuz I didn’t want to watch you wither away and our kids grow old before me...I’m sorry, Erica…” she hugged me tightly, she cried on my chest, I felt like crying too but just wanted to stay strong,

“I promise you this, I’ll be watching over you, and our children, I promise…”

“I understand, but when will I see you again?”

“I’ll know when is the right time to come to you, my love.” I said while I put my mask on, I went downstairs to Herman and put a gun in his mouth,

“You know you can’t kill me, so know this, I’ll watch you guys, if you even think of hurtin her or our kids, I’ll come back and you’ll wish I killed you today, you get me boy?!” He nodded, Erica slowly came down the stairs, I walked out and turned back to her, I waved her goodbye and went my way. Then a few years later in 1986 I met Kano and that’s how I made it here,

The two were shocked on Erron’s life story, Kano and Kabal were quite surprised,

“Man all of that and yer still here?” Kano said

“Yep, my life I guess.”

“But there’s one thing I wanna know about since you were secretive.” Kabal asked, Erron turned to him confused, Kano figures out what Kabal is gonna ask,

“What happened between you and Skarlet?”

“Yea mate, Baraka told me you couldn’t keep it in your pants or somethin?” Kano added on,

“Seriously?! That’s what she’s goin to say?!” Erron sighs,

“Fine here’s the real fuckin story.”


	13. Different Kind of Love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spoiler Alert for Roadkill up to this point and the rest of these chapters, read Roadkill first

**Chapter 12: Different Kind of Love**

So it all started four years back when we started dealin drugs and guns, the reason why we got the job to work for Shao Kahn, well as it turns out Shang Tsung heard about the work I’ve been doing here so he somehow found me and gave us the job, I remember when we first met Kahn’s army, Kabal was spazzing out because Magic was real and you were tryin to finalize the deals, once you were done you told me and Kabal to stay in Outworld while you go to handle the arms trades. That’s when I laid my eyes on her, Skarlet was special, from what Baraka told me back then, she was an Edenian/Vampire orphan until she was found by Kahn, Kahn had her learn Blood Magic and she was raised alongside the other girls. I didn’t want to just make my move yet but there were hints, I remember the first time I talked to her was when Rain and I was wandering around the temple having a conversation,

“So wait a minute, there’s an Earthrealm singer called Prince and he made a song after me?”

“No dipshit, the song is called Purple Rain, and you are purple and your fuckin name is Rain, and you were a prince.” 

“Ohhhh, I get it now. Huh that is quite the coincidence.”

“Yea, maybe if I get back to Earthrealm I’ll give you a Walkman with it.”

“The bloody hell is a Walkman?” Then when we turned the corner I accidentally bumped into her, we both fell back, I got up and put my hat back on, I reached my hand out to her to see if she wanted help up.

“Sorry about that missy, you alright?” She looked up and goddamn she was beautiful much more closer, she grabbed my hand and kept lookin at me as I helped her up. Guess Rain saw the signs and dipped out, she was quite nervous but quiet,

“...thank you, Erron.”

“So you know my name?” She blushed when I said that,

“W-well I heard you introduce yourself to the others, you are Erron Black.”

“Indeed I am, and you are?”

“Skarlet…”

“Pretty name, like the color in your eyes.” She blushed harder when I said that,

“Y-you noticed?” 

“Yep, can never forget a pretty sight like that.” She giggled with it, from there we just kept talking and then it came the moment of truth, when I tell you this girl knew me, she fuckin knew me. It was a few weeks into dating that Shao Kahn had us go huntin for some rebel groups that still were around. We were goin to the Living Forests to see if they were still hidin out, we were just makin small talk by then,

“That food we had last night was different.”

“You talkin about the takeout from Earthrealm? Yea I had Kabal grab me some when he went back.”

“Tasted sweeter and was filling.”

“That’s the point of Chinese Takeout sweetie.” 

“Erron...can I tell you something?” I turned to her,

“What’s up?”

“There’s something you should know about me.”

“What is it?” She was about to say until the rebels attacked, they shot me with three exploding arrows, one in my chest, one in my face and the other in my arm. I heard Skarlet scream and enraged, killing most of them but there were more comin. I decided to stop pretending and got back up, kept shooting every fucker there, Skarlet saw me pop up and was confused but still killing the ones that kept coming. They kept shooting that explosive shit and more chunks of my flesh kept getting blown off, by the time we were done, chunks of my skull, ribs and shins were showin. Skarlet saw this and approached, kinda confused on what to say,

“E-Erron?”

“Yea...it’s me...I made a deal a century ago, sold my soul, and this is what it got me.”

“So...you can’t die?”

“Nope...God knows I’ve tried, it takes me years to repair damage but this is just gonna take longer.” I sat down near a tree to rest, lit a cigarette, 

“What is that?” She asked

“Way to ease the pain…” Skarlet nodded and sat next to me,

“Is there a way to make it go faster?”

Skarlet nodded and she put her hand near my chest, she reached to my heart and pumped some of that blood magic in my heart, I coughed some of blood out and then my body started to repair itself again. I was confused and quite shock,

“The hell you do to me?”

“I pumped your heart with Blood Magic, now it will pump Blood Magic throughout your body which will let it repair faster and easier.” I kinda smiled on that, I gave her a small kiss on the head,

“Thanks Skar…”

“You’re welcome, to be honest I’m glad I learned this.”

“Why?”

“Well due to my parents, I received a Vampire and Edenian Mutation, I share no weaknesses but I’m immortal and have a thirst for blood.”

“So you’re a fellow immortal, guess that makes us a special kind of love.” She smiled when I said that, oh boy how those words aged badly. I’ll be honest I wasn’t the best to her, I kept my secrets from her, never really gave her time together and just focused on my work. We argued about it a lot in our two to three years, I remember one specific fight, it was a few weeks before our breakup, I tried sneaking out of bed with her cuz I got assigned a job, but she knew me well already, she was waitin for me to get up. I was getting my pants and boots on and that’s when she got up,

“You’re doing it again Erron.”

“Damn…”

“No, damn what? You told me you wouldn’t do this again.”

“Look sweetie, I got work to do, lots of it, sorry.”

“You say this every time. Nothing changes with you Erron.”

“Well what the fuck you want me to do about it?!”

“Uh gee Erron I don’t fuckin know, take a break?! Relax with me?! Spend one night in this fuckin bed?!”

“Oh here we go, the same shit again!”

“Yes it is the same shit again! Cuz you don’t get it the first 100 times!!”

“You’re so fuckin unbearable sometimes, just let me work and that’s it!”

“Why?! So you can come back whenever you feel like it and fuck me like some harlot?! Is that what I am to you Erron?! A damn harlot?!”

“No you aren’t no damn whore!”

“Well why don’t I have you pay me since you are treating me like one?!” 

“Ok shut the hell up for once Skarlet! I have responsibilities, I don’t live in luxury! I can’t stay here whenever I want and ignore work! I’m sorry if your needs are more important than me tryin to make a living?!”

“Like you even care?!”

“I do!” No I didn’t, 

“I listen to you everyday about your issues!” I fell asleep when she would talk due to lack of sleep.

“That’s the other thing too, you are never open with me?! This is a relationship, we are suppose to communi fuckin cate!”

“Well I got shit I’m not ready to talk about! Can you respect that!”

“Can you respect that every time I go on about my issues for you to listen?! For every fuckin time you come here for us to act like a couple instead of fuck buddies?!” We got interrupted by Rain,

“Can you guys please, shut up! It’s almost 3 in the morning and I need bloody rest!” Rain said, we kept quiet, she let me go like always and just like that a week later we broke up. Then just a few weeks ago I learned she’s dating my ex, all I know is Nitara will treat her better than I have.

Erron finished his beer and ordered a whisky,

“Well look on the bright side mate.” Kano said,

“What?”

“The Black Dragon is fokin rising up!” Kano said with a smile,

“Yeah man, we are doing well, the market is rising, the jobs are coming in, and with this Mortal Kombat tournament coming up in two years, we are getting bank.” Erron kinda smiled,

“Guess you’re right, so let’s make a toast for 1994.”

“Indeed mate, to 1994, May it be the best year for all of us!”

They all raised a glass to toast for a good year. All smiling and bright eyed, but 1994 wasn’t a good year. Kano received cybernetics due to an injury caused by the Special Forces, he began to fall into madness and obsess over death and murder. Because of this Erron Black left the group and wandered around, following the Mortal Kombat incident, Kabal betrayed Kano and worked for Special Forces until Kano comatosed and burned Kabal. Two decades later, Kabal woke up and seeked vengeance against the Black Dragon, killing all the members, when he caught Kano, Kano had Kabal vibrate his hand through his head and accepted death. It’s been a wild 21 years for Erron Black too, after the fall of Shao Kahn and the rise of Kotal Kahn, Erron sided with Kotal as they battled against Mileena’s forces, during the battle, Shinnok the fallen elder god returned for vengeance and Kotal betrayed Earthrealm which backfired once Shinnok was defeated. A year has passed and now a new reign for Outworld started, the Li Mei era, Erron became a politician but his story was far from over.


	14. Face the Music

**Chapter 13: Face the Music**

“So this form of government works on Earthrealm?” Li Mei asked Erron Black, who is now wearing a dusty black leather trench coat, black vest, white button shirt, black leather pants, black snakeskin boots and his dusty hat,

“Yep, for the most part, just gotta make sure everyone agrees along with choosing representatives from each race, so Shokan, Outworld, Tarkatan, Centaurs, Saurians, even refugees. We all discuss issues from our communities and see how we can help each other, if two people are fighting, we just try to resolve it and no one leaves until we get a final decision from you.” Li Mei nodded, 

“I see. Well you said all races that means the Vampires.” Erron sighed, he was getting annoyed,

“Erron, it’s been years, get over it.”

“Well I still feel awkward.” 

“Well get over it, we need all races for this to work so, grow a pair and go to the castle and talk to them.” 

“Fine...I just need to settle some personal business first…” Erron walked out of the castle and lit a cigarette, he called his horse and walked out to the outskirts of the capital, Kabal was there waiting for him,

“Sup Darth Vader.” Kabal chuckled to the joke,

“Well that’s so far the coolest nickname I got.” Kabal said, he walked a few step forward, Erron got off his horse,

“So...you did the deed didn’t you?”

“Yea you know, he wanted me to do it. Felt it was a fitting end for someone like him”

“Maybe...you know, his last few years were shitty but he was a good friend back before...the cybernetics.”

“Guess your right Erron.” Kabal sighed, Erron brought two beers,

“How can you drink with that thing?” Erron chuckled, Kabal chuckled,

“I can breathe without it.” Kabal chuckled when he said that, Erron cracked opened both and hands it to Kabal, Kabal presses a button to open the mouth area of the mask and began drinking,

“So what’s next for the Death Racer, Kabal?” Erron asked, Kabal shrugged,

“Sonya offered me to work for them, but kinda just wanna stick to being a lone avenger, just roaming and doing my own thing for now.” Erron nods, he looks down, 

“So how is my daughter and granddaughter?” Kabal looked to him,

“She’s…doing fine so far, reminds me of that story you told me...about Skarlet?” Erron sighed,

“Guess this is just ‘remind Erron about shitty things’ day.”

“Li Mei, huh?”

“Yea she wants me to talk to them about democracy…”

“Erron...you know what I learned from the past year?”

“What?”

“You can’t run from the past forever, eventually you’ll face the music and come to the light. You can stop running now and confront everything and finally wake up into reality.” Kabal’s words hit Erron, he kept quiet, once they put Kano in the grave, they poured out a bottle of Kano’s favorite Gin and went their separate ways. Erron decided to get his teleporter and go back to Earthrealm, a place he hasn’t been in a while. Before he went to the Black Dragon, he put his old pictures and old mementos in a storage locker, he went to the storage locker unit where the owner helped him find it.

“Here it is, storage locker 185, enjoy Mr. Black.” 

“Thanks…”

He saw a bunch of things from his past that surprisingly haven't turned to dust or rusted away. His father’s uniform from the Confederacy, a bunch of old bandages, worn out clothing, albums from the 40’s all the way to the 90’s, loads of cash, weapons, ammo, his old black guitar and pictures. Erron picked up a photo of him and Erica, he sighed and put it in his pocket, he packed everything and put it in a truck, he drove to the great plains in Northwest Texas, where all that remained was his old farm house, the one he and Maggie called home. Erron got out and entered the house, he received some flashbacks to a happier time in his life, the only time he felt truly happy. Erron took off his hat and put everything aside, he cleared everything out and started to clean up the house, renovating it a bit and burning some old photos, except for one, one with them as kids, a simple time. Erron finished moving things in, he walked to the old tree where he carved his and Maggie’s initials on the tree, he rubbed it and sighed, thinking about back then with her. Erron remembered there was one more thing to do, once he finished he got back in the truck and drove to Austin, Texas, some parts of the neighborhood changed, except for that old house. He pulled over and got out and sighed, Erron snuck in the house where he saw the pictures, he saw the pictures of Sonya and Daniel, Herman and Erica. He heard machinery and a heartbeat monitor from upstairs, he walked upstairs to find Erica, resting in bed and using life support to help her, she was aged older and her appearance isn’t the same as before. She turned to see Erron and smiled,

“Erron...I’ve been waiting...years…”

“I know Erica...it’s been some hard long years, but I’m glad you experienced life, I wouldn’t want to hold you back.” Erron sat on the chair beside her,

“Looks like the...years have been…kind on you.”

“Well, the years were weird for me...how was Sonya?”

“She grew up well...she’s a General now.”

“I...know.” Erron didn’t know what to feel but guilt,

“I’m sorry I left you and them, I should’ve stayed…I know about Daniel and what happened to him, a part of me wishes I knew him more, another part wishes I knew what Kano was going to do so I could’ve saved him.” Erica slowly put her hand on Erron’s

“Don’t blame...yourself...they wouldn’t under-“ Erica was interrupted by Sonya, Cassie and Johnny at the door, Sonya and Cassie were aiming the guns at Erron’s head,

“What.the.FUCK ARE YOU DOING IN MY MOM’S HOUSE?!” Johnny usually being the voice of reason now, gets in between the line of fire,

“Get out of the fuckin way Johnny!”

“Yea and have you scare your mom half to death? No thank-“ Erron grabbed Johnny’s arm and moved him aside slowly, Erron walked to Sonya and placed the gun on his head, he pulls the trigger, a bit of his blood got on Johnny’s head, he keeps shooting till the gun goes empty,

“What the?!”

“Ewwww dude, I got blood on me.” The wound begins healing and Erron sighs,

“Guess it’s time I fess up…”

“Fess up to what?!” Erron backed up a bit,

“I was born in 1858, when I was 12 I killed my father and mother to protect someone I cared about, I was sentenced to hang at noon, I made a deal with the Devil to save my soul but years later I was supposed to die, but the woman I loved made a deal to protect me, as punishment I was damned to never die...Sonya...I’m your father….” Silence, Cassie and Johnny weren’t sure how to react, Sonya began crying,

“It’s...it’s not true...you’re fucking lying?! Mom?!” Erica sighed and nodded, Erron took a photo of him and Erica when she was pregnant, Sonya just kept crying, she punched Erron in the face,

“You...why didn’t you ever tell me?!”

“I was tryin to protect you, you wouldn’t understand…”

“Oh I understand, I understand that my real father was a coward who always weaseled his way out of anything because he didn’t want to open up or confront any of his issues! That distant father, me and Daniel....did you know about what Kano did to Daniel?!” Erron didn’t know what to say, he just looked down,

“I didn’t know, by the time he did that I left, I left the organization for good and God knows how much I wish I went back to save him.” Sonya just began crying hard, Erron knows that the thought of what happened to Daniel haunts him and how much he regrets telling Kano.

“Please...leave and never come around me or my family ever again…” Erron nodded and walked out the house, he opened a portal to Outworld and went to the bar, he ordered a bottle of whiskey and began to drown his thoughts again. Erron just drank the entire night away, it was all a blur after the fourth bottle. By the time he woke up, it was morning and he was in his apartment, surrounded by bottles of Gin, Whiskey, Bourbon and Rum. He was just in his pants, his eyes were sore and he got up slowly, he heard a knock, he limped and stumbled to the door. Kabal and Li Mei were there,

“Dude...you smell.”

“Tell me something I don’t know. Why are you here Li Mei?”

“Because one of my Senators/Council members got drunk and punched a bartender in the face.” Li Mei said with a chuckle, Erron sighed and stumbled to his bed, Kabal huffed some air and kicked a bottle to the side,

“Lay off the alcohol man, why did you binge drink?”

“Cuz I told my daughter that I’m her dad, that I couldn’t save my son and reasonably, she doesn’t want anything to do with me.”

“Ok but it doesn’t mean you have to drown yourself in alcohol besides you didn’t do what I ask you to do.” Li Mei said as she started kicking bottles aside,

“So you just came to be up my ass about it?”

“That and tell you to lay off the alcohol, it isn’t going to help you get better Erron.”

“She’s right dude, you’ve been drinking more than usual. I get it, immortality means you don’t die from alcohol poisoning but still you don’t have to drink too much.” Kabal added on, Erron sighed and just started to put his shirt and boots on,

“Seriously Erron, I’m letting you off with a warning, just get yourself cleaned up and please don’t fight bartenders.” Erron sighed and nodded, after getting dressed he left to Nitara’s castle in the outskirts of the capital city, Erron got off his horse and walked up the steps, once he got to the front door he knocked on it. A few minutes passed and finally someone answered, it was Skarlet, her hair used to be a long red ponytail and now it was shoulder length with red highlights, she was wearing a red and black leather long sleeve and leather pants with leather boots. Erron moved his eyes down to his boots,

“Hi…”

“What do you want, Black?”


	15. Things Never Get Easier

**Chapter 14: Things Never Get Easier**

“Well, why are you here?” 

“I just came to talk to Nitara.”

“Why?”

“Cuz I convinced Li Mei to make a new form of government for Outworld and I need Nitara to represent Vampires.”

“So you are no longer Kotal’s dog?”

“Never was...Kotal is imprisoned either way for the ethnic genocides he committed.”

“Genocides that you helped him commit yet Li Mei keeps you around.” She said as she rolled her eyes, Erron sighed,

“Look you damn blood witch, I didn’t come here for you to do a job that I already do to myself, I came here to see Nitara and that’s it so where the fuck is she?!” Skarlet looked down,

“She’s...been missing…”

“Missing?”

“She went to Earthrealm a few weeks ago and hasn’t came back yet…”

“Did you go to Earthrealm and look?” Skarlet sighed in annoyance,

“Yes because General Blade will let me stroll right into Earthrealm after trying to kill her and her squad.” Erron thought of an idea but realized it might not work,

“I kinda have an...idea.”

“You can think?”

“Shut it...well you see…” Skarlet started to tap her foot aggressively,

“What? Spill it!”

“Fine...she’s my daughter!” Skarlet stopped being annoyed for a second and was shocked, she knows when Erron is serious and when he’s joking, he wasn’t joking.

“What?”

“Yea…”

“You really haven’t told me everything have you?”

“No...look I’ll help you get her back, I’ll see if Sonya doesn’t hate me too much to help.” Skarlet shrugged, she really had nothing to lose so she got some stuff, her and Erron walked to his horse, he helped her get on Pale Rider, then he got on,

“I’m not holding on to you.”

“Who said you have to?” Erron rode slowly he opened and teleported to Earthrealm’s Special Forces Base, the men came and aimed their guns at them, despite him having diplomatic immunity, the Special Forces doesn’t trust Black since he is a former Black Dragon,

“Don’t do anythin stupid Skarlet.” He whispered softly to her, Jacqui and Takeda came,

“What are you doing here Black?” Jacqui said,

“Came to see Sonya.”

“How can we trust that?” Takeda added on,

“You can read my mind, idiot.”

“Hey people can lie in their head.” Erron sighed and got off the horse,

“Stay here Skarlet.” Erron walked to the army,

“Black if you come closer we will open fire.” Jacqui said in a serious tone,

“Do it coward, look what will happen.” He kept taking steps forward, Jacqui armed herself and got ready, so did Takeda, Erron kept walking, Jacqui fired her shotgun gauntlet at Erron’s face, a chunk of Erron’s face came off, they both were startled, Jacqui kept firing at his face but Erron kept walking till he grabbed her wrists, Takeda tried stabbing Erron in the throat, Sonya came and ended the dispute before it got serious,

“Stand down, please.”

“What the hell is he?!” Takeda asked, Jacqui was just speechless, Erron’s face started to regenerate back to normal. Skarlet sighed and got off the horse,

“She’s with me, let her be.” The men stood down and Sonya approached Erron,

“You mind if we talk privately first...I have some things to say.” 

“Sure…” Erron and Sonya walk to her office, once they enter, Erron closes the door,

“Look...I’m sorr-“

“Don’t Erron, I should apologize...I’ve been quite a hard ass on people, focusing on my work and pushing people away, I’m trying to change that and I’m sorry I lashed out on you.”

“I understand how you feel, I know what it’s like to try to solve my problems by being a workaholic but trust me when I say that’s just goin to push lots of people close to you away till you’re like me. Alcoholic and alone, and about Daniel, I didn’t know, it was years when I found out about it, when I saw the bastard he bragged about it and I just didn’t know what to do, I just shut down and felt lost.”

“Yea, guess we are on the same boat, I regret getting him involved with the Black Dragon case and he still haunts me to this day. I wish you met him, he was a really great guy. I don’t mind giving you a chance...da- I mean Herman wasn’t a good person, he always told me and Daniel that he got crippled back in Nam, he wouldn’t talk to us or be proud of us when we do things. That’s why I joined the military but it did nothing, even when Daniel died he didn’t care. The point is that I never really had a good relationship with him, and knowing now that he isn’t my father, I would like to get the chance to start new with my actual father.” Erron smiled a bit,

“...Thanks, just don’t call me dad, I don’t feel...comfortable with that.” Sonya chuckled,

“Well, now that we got that out the way, what’s up?”

“Skarlet said that Nitara’s been missin for the past few weeks and I need some type of record of portals open for the past few weeks.”

“Oh sure.” Sonya looked in the computer for the records,

“Let’s see...Ah here, an unauthorized portal from Outworld opened three weeks ago here, a few miles away from the base.”

“Thanks, and make sure to visit me some time, promise I won’t shoot you.” He said with a chuckle, Erron left and saw Skarlet with Takeda, Jacqui, Cassie and Kung Jin, 

“Sup Gramps.” Cassie said,

“Please don’t call me that...I’m old enough to be your ancestor.”

“Well you’re still my gramps.” Erron shook his head, him and Skarlet went to Pale Rider and waved goodbye,

“You got a recent picture of Nitara with you?” Skarlet took a photo out of them together,

“Me and her during Pride a few months ago.” Erron rolled his eyes, they both got on Pale Rider and went to check out the area, Erron hid Pale Rider for a bit and walked the rest of the way with Skarlet. Nothing was there, they asked around but no one saw her but a hobo who said she went to an alley, Skarlet looked a little upset,

“We’ve been looking for her for a while and it’s taking a long time, I’m kinda worried.”

“Nitara is a fuckin vampire, I’m pretty sure no one got to her unless they knew.” Suddenly two black tinted vans surrounded them, a group of young men in suits came out, all of them looked familiar, 

“So this is the legendary Erron Black, the Man in Black, the Rider of Death. What a joke…”

“Who the hell are you?” 

“Don’t you recognize us or well who we look like?” It took Erron a few seconds but he realized something, they look like Digger, Oldie, Buckshot, Butch and Daniel Jackson! 

“It can’t be…”

“Yep, two centuries ago you killed our ancestors, well tried to, Daniel the second got out before it blew up but his arm came off.” The one that looked like Butch came forward,

“The story of Erron Black the man who couldn’t die, spread through our families. So our families united to build a corporation, with the money and resources we know everything about you. We know about Outworld, Nitara and everything you’ve been through, even your family.” Skarlet stepped in,

“What did you do to her?!” She said in an aggressive tone, the one who looked like Daniel laughed, he snapped his fingers and a bunch of men took out weapons aiming at Skarlet, Erron pushed her aside and took the gunfire, chunks of flesh and guts were being spilled, once they were done they began running. Erron snapped and called Pale Rider, despite some of the cars going away one was a little late to move and he went after that one. The chase was intense, men were firing and trying to shoot Pale Rider but Erron jumped off and grabbed on the car, the men tried shooting Erron but Erron shot the tire and the car crashed. Erron got up now half of his flesh on his body was ripped up and the bones in his arm showed. The one who looked like Digger crawled out, Erron put his gun on his head,

“You wanna know what I did to your Ancestor kid, I stripped him butt naked and fed him to starving pigs.” The guy started panicking,

“So here’s what you're going to do, you are gonna sing like a birdie and spill everything, Nitara, those punks and where I can find them.” 

“Ok ok, they are all heading to the main corporate building expecting you, Nitara was used as bait to bring you here but we killed her-“ he was cut off as Skarlet came and began making his heart pump faster till it blew up. Erron called Pale Rider but Skarlet stopped him,

“I’m coming with you.” 

“No you’re not.”

“They killed her! Cuz of you, and I want to-“

“No you listen here! I get it I caused her to die, she can be added on to the list of people’s lives I fucked over, but these guys are my problem! I did this because I loved someone back then I loved someone and their ancestors took her away from me! I loved her and I could never have her again, so I killed all of them! But of course, shit happens shit never changes, and here I am dealing with the same shit, same story, same people and I’m solvin it the way I always have solved it, by shootin some punks down and endin it in a bloodbath. So you know what Skarlet, sorry for your loss but get your ass back to Outworld because this is my fight not yours!” Skarlet stayed quiet, Erron’s body was healing back to normal, he got back on Pale Rider and rode back to his farm. He went to his vinyl library and got out American IV: The Man Who Comes Around by Johnny Cash, he put it on the record player and it began playing the first track. Erron walked to the basement where the weapons are, he began loading clips for the M16, he put the clips into one of his leather coats, he grabbed an M2010 Sniper Rifle and loaded up a clip and got a scope for the M16, he got a M60 and a few of the clips for it, he grabbed a flamethrower and loaded it fully, Erron got a grenade launcher with a grenade belt, he then got a Mossberg 500 shotgun with Dragon’s Breath rounds. Erron looked around and found his Tarkatan blade, a Tomahawk, C4, a long knife and some Zatareean acid bottles. He puts on the trench coat with the ammo and clips along with a black buttoned shirt, boots and pants. He loaded up the weapons in a bag and carried the flamethrower on his back, he got a mask that showed the jaw of the skull and he put it on, along with a black hat with a chain wrapped around it. He walked to the tree where he and Maggie carved their names,

“This is an endless cycle of the same shit repeating. I ended fights the same way, with some punk ass and his buddies gettin shot up, with me losing someone close, thanks to me…” he thought to himself, 

“This war ends tonight, I’m not going to die tonight, I don’t know when I’ll die honestly. But I know I’m goin to fill up the gates of Hell with as many of these bastards as I can.” Erron got ready for the final war he’s ever going to fight, he got on Pale Rider and rode off to battle.


	16. Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter Here

**Chapter 15: Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter Here**

It was around 2 AM when Erron got to the corporate building, Erron sat on a balcony and took out the sniper rifle, he put a silencer on and sniped out the guards in front, then the ones who set position on the balcony. Erron then jumped off and put on the flamethrower, multiple guards came and he lit them a blaze, Erron progressed more into the lobby, burning guards who got in his way, smiling sadistically, he was broken down, only solving things the way he knew how. He kept burning guards to a crisp, after a while he went to the boiler room and put his flamethrower near the boiler, he rubbed napalm jelly on it and put the C4 on it, he took out his Grenade Launcher and went back upstairs. He fired grenades at the men, he shot some at the elevators causing them to crash down, he made his way up the stairs shooting at men till he ran out of grenades to shoot. Erron tossed aside the grenade launcher and pulled out the M60 and started shooting at the men, some of the men tried shooting at them but all they did was just scrape some of Erron’s skin. Erron kept firing until he reloaded, three men tried approaching Erron but he threw three acid bottles at them, their faces began melting off as Erron walked by them. Erron made his way to an office space where more men with guns came, he kept throwing acid bottles at them and shooting them down, multiple people he kept shooting, multiple bullets were fired until he ran out of ammo for the M60 so he tossed it aside and took out his M16. Suddenly, a helicopter came with a guy manning a minigun, Erron sighed and kept shooting while the minigunner kept shooting. Erron took cover so he didn’t get too fucked up, he grabbed his lasso and ran as fast as he could to the helicopter, he jumped out the window and threw the lasso on the landing skid, he was hanging on the helicopter now, hoping this works now. 


	17. Close to Heaven

**Chapter 16: Close to Heaven**

Erron held on tight to the rope, he started shooting at the building as the helicopter tried slamming him to buildings, Erron kept climbing up the rope and shooting, he climbed up to the landing skid, took the lasso off, wrapped it around his arm and with his knife, stabbed the minigunner in the balls, Erron got up and kicked the other guy off and threw the lasso at the pilot,

“Listen up punk! You’re gonna steer this the way I tell you to!” The pilot nodded out of fear, Erron wrapped some of the rope around his arm, he then took control of the minigun and started shooting at the building, multiple guards and security were being massacred by Erron, 

“Go higher!” He said to the pilot as he tugged the rope, Erron kept shooting at the building, his mind focused on one thing, final revenge. The helicopter kept going up till it got to the center of the building, the minigun ran out of bullets and Erron got a crazy idea,

“Crash the helicopter into the building!”

“What?!” The pilot said,

“YOU HEARD ME CRASH IT RIGHT INTO THE BUILDING!” The pilot prayed, then turned the helicopter to face the building, he then flew it forward into the building, crashing it into the floor and taking a group of guards with it. Erron had some minor scratches from it and his mask was broken, he got out of the helicopter, more guards came and he took his M16 and kept firing at them, taking out each guard that came till he ran out of clips. Erron tossed it aside and pulled out the shotgun, he then took out his Tarkatan Blade and kept walking straight up, he shot a guard’s legs off then cut his head off with the blade, he then stabbed another guard in the gut and shot three guards in the chest, leaving holes in their chests and then taking the blade out of the other guard and shooting his head off. Erron finally made it to the front doors of Jackson’s office, which was guarded by a bunch of armed guards, Erron smirked and spat out some blood,

“C’mon, you think the armor and weapons scare me? I’ve killed tougher and much more scarier and guess what shitheads? I just killed hundreds, maybe thousands of your buddies and you guys are about to see them soon!” Erron charged at the men, shooting one’s chest open then slicing three in half, then shooting another’s leg off, he continued that cycle of shooting and dismembering people till there were only a bunch of separate body parts, Erron was covered in blood, half of his and half the others, his body was covered in wounds, his body was torn inside and his arm muscles were showing, his face was blown in half, showing muscles and his jaw. Erron kicked the door down and there was no one there, Erron looked but then suddenly, metal covers came down on the window and a screen is shown, playing a live feed that showed Jackson,

“Well well well, congrats for falling into our trap. You shot a bunch of people for nothing. All the deaths and for what exactly? Because we killed someone close to you? Or is it because you feel responsible, feel responsible for hurting people, feel responsible for getting people into the twisted game you play. It’s funny, you got Maggie involved in a life that cost her life, you got Skarlet and Nitara into a world the moment you dated them and Erica too who you had two bastard children with, and only two of them are dead, well only three. Seems no matter what you do, people die, get hurt and you end up alone again. All these years and you never learned the sa-“

“Shut up kid…”

“What?”

“I'm tired, I didn’t come here for them...I thought I did, I held Maggie in my heart for years, I held her so tight that it was like a noose around my neck. You are right...I hurt people, I hurt people because I was too afraid to get close again...but I’m tired of living this life...I’m tired of all this bullshit...so once I kill you and all those fucks...I’m done for good…also, you clearly don’t know what Tarkatan Blades are.” Erron finished that by stabbing and cutting the metal cover and is about to leave,

“Also don’t worry about insurance, you guys should focus on your funerals.”

“What?” Erron was outside and it was starting to rain hard, Erron ran, put the blade in his back and jumped off the top of the building he detonated the C4 which blew up the boiler room and blew up the whole building with it, Erron closed his eyes on the way down, falling in peace and just letting things go until he crashed on a SUV that was apart of a convoy guarding the group, Erron put his bones back in place and jumped onto a nearby Oil Tanker, Erron shot the SUV with the shotgun, he shot another and made his way to the driver’s seat, pulled the driver out and started driving the tanker himself, he shot at some SUVs and turned chasing the main SUV, the SUV sped and stopped to a nearby church, everyone got out, went inside the church and there was a barricade of cars blocking Erron, Erron didn’t care and drove the tanker through the cars causing the tanker to flip and turn over. Erron was hanging upside down on the driver’s seat, for a sec he was out cold till he woke up, kicked the window and got up, his body was torn into majority muscle showing, skin hanging, he was down to just pants and barefoot. He only had a quarter of skin left and the bone was starting to show a bit. Erron limped to the church for one final fight.


	18. Absolved and Reborn

**Chapter 17: Absolved and Reborn**

Erron entered the church, Buckshot and Oldie stayed while Butch and Jackson went up the tower,

“Don’t know why you bother running and fighting…” Erron said, he shot the guards that came his way while also cutting them in half, down to his last two rounds, he shot Buckshot and Oldie in the legs, he limped towards the two, cuts Oldie’s throat and pulls up Buckshot to the statue of Jesus Christ and stabs Buckshot in the gut, nailing him onto the statue,

“...Say your prayers right now...it’s all you have right now…” Erron tossed the shotgun aside and pulled his two revolvers out, he went up the bell tower where there was more guards, he ricocheted shot Jackson in the leg wounding him as he was close to the top, Erron shot every guard in the way, as he shot, all of them kept falling down until Erron was at the top with Butch. He had a revolver and Erron had one loaded, Erron outdrawed Butch shooting him in the leg too. Erron grabbed the rope from the bell, he starts to make a noose,

“You know I buried Butch in my grave, they never found his body, but look on the bright side, they’ll find yours.” Erron put the noose around Butch’s neck, he began dragging him near the edge,

“Here’s a quote to remember, ‘Any man’s death diminishes me, for I am involved in mankind. Any therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.’” Erron finished the quote and tossed his body down, Butch’s body hung as the bells were ringing in a dead march. Erron kicks the door down, Jackson was trying to stand,

“Please...please I promise...I’ll leave you alone…”

“Your ancestors weren’t such punk asses when they died.” Erron pulled the trigger but nothing fired, 

“Damn...empty...luckily there’s one bullet...I still have…” Erron took out the bullet necklace he had from back then, 

“My magic bullet...you know she gave this...to me...I’ve kept this for years…but I just remembered somethin...a bullet is...still a bullet, and it’s meant to be fired…” Erron took the bullet off the string, loaded it into the gun and shot Jackson in the head, Jackson fell out the tower window, down he fell till he landed on the spiked gates. Erron sighed, he started to heal himself again, he walked down, got his blade back, Erron looked at the statue and then the stained glass,

“God...Death...the Elder Gods...whoever...you guys are some...sons of bitches…” He flipped the glass the middle finger and started to limp out the church, Erron called Pale Rider and slowly got on him, he rode off as the storm was clearing and the sun was coming up. He just had one more place to go.


	19. Rest in Pieces

**Chapter 18: Rest in Pieces**

Erron made it to the cemetery, Erron fell off Pale Rider but got himself back up. He limped into the graveyard, walking to a familiar sight, a gravestone that said, “Here Lies, Magaline Black, Beloved Wife and Daughter.”

“...hey Mags…it’s been a while…” Erron went down to his knees and hugged the gravestone, 

“I...finally understand it...why you did it...why you spared me...you loved me that much...you loved me enough to give me...a chance to live and...love again...but I failed you. I’ve spent this curse...killing people, I’ve killed...children too...and I hate...myself that it took so long to...realize it...I wanted to do anythin...just to get you back...but...if I got you back...you would’ve probably smacked me...in the face...I...I love you...but I can’t let...the past...I can’t let myself...hurt me again...I’ll visit again someday...but Maggie...this is...goodbye...I’m gonna...let your memory...and your spirit...finally rest...in...peace...” Erron collapsed on the ground, he turned around, leaning on his tombstone and looked out into the distance and saw someone coming to him, it was a woman wearing a white dress. Erron knew it, it was Maggie, she came and went on bended knee and smiled at him, she caressed his face, Erron wasn’t sure how to take this, but he put his hand on her waist and it felt like her. Maggie kept rubbing his face and leaned in closer to Erron’s face, Erron pulled her softly to him and kissed her, he kissed her more passionately than anyone in his life. Her presence felt warm and relaxing, how she used to be, guess her soul did go to Heaven after all. Erron started to tear up despite barely having flesh, they softly let go of the kiss and Maggie got up and slowly walked away, she turned around and waved back at Erron,

“I’ll always watch over you...my love.” She said as she faded away. Erron smiled and leaned his head down before closing his eyes and passing out. A few hours passed and Erron woke up in his bed, Erron was wearing the same pants and he got up and wandered around, he noticed Skarlet sitting in the front porch, he walked to her and sat beside her,

“So, you brought me here, how’d you find out I was here?”

“Tracked the only blood magic in this realm, once I saw Pale Rider I knew I was in the right place.”

“Oh I see…” Skarlet had a beer with her and drank some,

“Who was on that gravestone you put your blood on?”

“Someone close to me, her name was Maggie, she was my first wife...when we were kids my pa tried raping her and my ma was gonna let it happen...I killed them both and from there the rest is history.” Skarlet nods,

“She always told me that guns and bullets were our lives and she wanted to do somethin more than that.”

“And that was?”

“...Start a family, live life...she used to love me a lot...so much so that in the last few seconds of her life, she sold her soul to protect my sorry ass. For years I kinda wondered why? Why did she let me live? Was it to make me suffer in pain or somethin, was this my punishment? But now I realized she just wanted me to live, I never had the chance to live, my parents were assholes, the chances I got close I ran away cuz I was too damn afraid…”

“Why are you telling me this Erron?” She said as she turned to him,

“It’s an apology, it’s an apology to losin the closest person to me, an apology to someone I was too damn afraid to let in. To be honest, I’m not askin you to take me back with open arms but I ain’t askin you to leave my life ever either, I just want you to stay so we can start over.” Skarlet sighed and rested her head on Erron’s shoulder,

“I think I get you now, your whole life you’ve just been getting by, getting by everyday with nightmares and disgust with what you are, not knowing when your time is up, but even through all that shit, you still found your paradise. That's what makes us two of a kind, outsiders, no one really truly understands us but...well, us. We don’t open up like this to many people but when we do, it takes a certain special someone to understand and an even special someone to accept it.” Erron nods,

“Yea…” Skarlet drank more, Erron lit a cigarette,

“I don’t mind you know...starting over it’s just going to take a while…Nitara was really close you know?”

“Heh...we have time Skarlet...we have all the time in the world…” Erron smoked his cigarette and Skarlet just slept on his shoulder, watching the sun rise up again, thinking about the long life they had, the long life together, the years of hardship and struggles they had, has brought them to this point, paradise.

**The End**


	20. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

A year had passed since Erron’s adventure, him and Skarlet were active politicians for Outworld’s new Democratic Republic while also making income as horse ranchers, one afternoon they were repairing a 1973 Ford Falcon XB GT Coupe with Skarlet. Erron was now sporting jeans, brown boots, black and white flannel and one of his dusty hats. 

“Alright Skar, press on the gas.” Skarlet pressed on the gas, the engine was sounding kind of off and Erron picked up on it,

“Still nothing?” Skarlet said,

“Nope, lets see here, pass me that tank of fluid.” Skarlet nods and passes him the tank, Erron poured some in the engine,

“Alright now press it again.” Erron said, 

“Gotcha.” replied Skarlet, she pressed on the gas and the engine made a normal noise, Erron chuckled,

“Alrighty great.” Erron closed the hood and Skarlet drove it slowly backwards. Erron then heard footsteps coming behind him,

“Hello Erron and Skarlet.” Erron turned around and it was Nightwolf,

“Hey Nightwolf, What brings you to our neck of the woods?”

“I was wondering if you two were going to join the ceremony later?”

“Oh yeah your daughter’s birthday, how old is she turning?” Skarlet asked,

“17, she would appreciate you guys coming plus I promised her and the little one that Aunt Skarlet would step by.”

“Geez not like I exist.” Erron said sarcastically,

“Oh shut it Erron.” Skarlet said with a giggle,

“Oh speaking of which Erron, I need some meat and hide if you have any, it’s for the ceremony.” 

“Oh yeah it’s out back, c’mon let me help you get it.” Erron and Nightwolf walked out to the back and went to the barn, Nightwolf lifted his arm to stop Erron,

“What?”

“I hear someone breathing.” Erron pulled out his revolver from his holster and took aim, Nightwolf took out his hatchet. He gave Erron a hand signal and they slowly moved into the barn only to find a battered, badly damaged and injured Rain sitting and resting his body on the wall while also having a smile, Erron and Nightwolf put back their weapons and get close to see what’s wrong,

“Rain, what in Sam Hill did you get into?”

“Heh...it’s over Erron...I did...it.” 

**Kontinued in Mortal Kombat: Dishonored**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don’t expect Dishonored to come quickly, it’s gonna take a while since I got other works to do. Thanks for reading everyone


End file.
